Search Results for: London

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has suspended funds to five regional authorities in England – north-east England, north-west England, Yorkshire and Humberside, London and West Midlands – over “a lack of proper controls over paying agencies.” No indication of the sums involved was given but in 2005 the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) pumped Euro 2 billion into the UK, so the loss of money will be substantial.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament’s (EP) expensive staging of meetings in both Brussels and Strasbourg generates at least 20,000 more tonnes in CO2 emissions than using one base, claims a report commissioned by the EP’s green group. Consultancy Eco-Logica calculated the additional journeys by MEPs and staff, plus moving equipment and files, and operating an additional building, generated emissions equalling 13,000 London-New York return flights.…

BY LUCY JONES, in Dallas, Texas
GRAFFITI artists, US baby boomers and the massive expansion of low-cost housing are several – very diverse – factors buoying up Mexico’s paint industry.

Vast improvements in the property-buying process for foreigners, plus a slowing of the housing sector at home, are making the country’s coastal areas from Cancun to Baja California increasingly attractive for North American retirees.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DISASTROUS medical trials at London’s Northwick Park Hospital have now sparked the development by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) of draft guidelines for first-in-man clinical trials of potentially high-risk medicinal products. London-based EU agency EMEA’s advice outlines information researchers should gather prior to a human trial, ranging from a product characterisation, a determination of its strength and potency, detailed information on how the medicine will interact with the body, and the length of its effects.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
ETHICALLY conscious consumers are spending more money on buying certified fair trade wine, although the marketing of other drinks certified to promote social development in poorer countries has been slower to grow.

Fair trade wines volumes are now respectable, with the London-based Fair Trade Foundation saying consumption is highest in the UK, with worldwide sales volumes totaling 618,000 litres in 2004 (bought entirely in Britain), and 1.39 million in 2005, with Britons buying 1.12 million of the share.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A UNIVERSITY of Manchester study has found that the active ingredient in many common anti-fungal drugs is effective in killing the tuberculosis bacteria, a discovery that could result in significantly reducing the number of deaths from standard TB and tackling emerging drug-resistant strains of the deadly disease.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has presented Inventors of the Year 2007 awards to two pharmaceutical research teams, for developing new and successful medicines with a global impact. Professor Marc Feldmann, of Britain’s Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Imperial College, London, received a lifetime achievement award for identifying the role of cytokines in the treatment of autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and finding a treatment, “which has helped millions of people all over the world”, said a Brussels statement.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the accession of Cardinal Josef Ratzinger to the papal throne in 2005, some Vatican watchers have predicted a tightening of administrative procedures in the world’s smallest sovereign state. The Vatican clearly has a global punch through the Roman Catholic Church, and this has raised concerns about the state’s control of its banks amongst its detractors.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BRITISH government is being threatened with legal action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over claims it has failed to ensure the correct implementation of the European Union’s (EU) landfill directive throughout the United Kingdom.

The directive imposes environmental and health standards on the operation and closure of landfills.…

BY MARK ROWE
IT might sound strange, but Darwin’s theory of evolution is as relevant to the anti-crime industry and its battle against counterfeiters, IT fraud and fake documentation as it is to the animal kingdom. As technology evolves to give security forces the upper hand, criminals and counterfeiters have historically been quick to play catch up.…